Quick help please!!

OK here's the situation.


Which is the better situation - I know neither choice is great.

1. RF in Marathon at exactly the weight limit - maybe slightly below.
2. FF in Marathon with no top tether anchor.

Background:
DD is 4 1/2. Rides in Nauti in the van and up until now has been RF in her Marathon in the Malibu. We've been meaning to get a top anchor put in but haven't done it yet. When I weighed her the other day,with jeans, shoes etc. she was 35 lbs on my scale. Tonight with just a pajama shirt on she was 33.5/34 lbs. We had planned to just not have her ride in that car until we got a tether anchor - which normally isn't a problem - we just switch cars if needed, but she's in the van 95+% of the time.

Well, tonight I got home and parked in the garage and DH got home and the garage door wouldn't open. So the van is stuck in the garage and we can't get it out. We can't mess with it tonight, but will probably call someone on Saturday. We can make it work tomorrow with DH driving me and Taylor to daycare (I work there) and then he'll pick us up after he's off work. Unfortunately the car that is outside is the one we weren't going to have her ride in!!!

So what's your vote? I'm kind of hoping for RF at or slightly below the weight limit because that means I don't have to mess with changing her seat around out in the cold/dark. BUT if it overwhelmingly is safer to ride FF without a top tether (seatbelt install only - no LATCH) I will do that.

Fast replies would be great!! Thanks!

Laurie

Me? I would go pull the red dangly cord attached to the garage door opener that disconnects the door from the opener mechanism and open it by hand.

Yeah, we tried that. There are cotter pins in both the top and bottom parts that someone has bent and we can't get out. My DH tried to actually unscrew the nuts/screws holding the whole metal piece together, but they're stuck. At our old house, we could just pull the cord and it would release. This one - not at all. :thumbsdown:

Did you try using your opener? Maybe his batteries are dead?

Yeah, we tried his opener and the direct connection that's above the light switch.

I do appreciate all the garage door suggestions, but I mainly need to know if I need to switch the carseat around or not. I know neither is ideal, but which one is worse. . .

OK good news. We gave it one more try and with both of us lifting with our full power, we were able to lift the very heavy, wood, double garage door. DH held it up while I drove the van out, so we are set to go for tomorrow - even if my poor van will get cold over night We talked to my dad and together figured out that one of the springs had broken and wasn't lifting.

So Taylor is safely riding in the van tomorrow, but I am still curious if one is worse than the other? Or are they both equally bad?

Thanks!
Laurie

Just my non-tech opinion: If you think the scale could be out by a few pounds, then I would FF. If you know the scale is accurate, either is fine, so I would leave it RF. The seat has to pass testing without the tether FF. And the RF limit means up to that number. 35lbs means 35lbs. Not "it's going to break at 34.5lbs".

Hmm, I'd personally go with RF and just try to dress her as lightly as possible, take shoes off, etc. But that's just my gut feeling and I have no facts to support it.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org

Being over the weight limit is worse. The seat is tested and passed without a top tether. It either wasn't tested or failed.over the weight limit.

For a 4.5yo, I would absolutely forward-face, even untethered, rather than risk exceeding the weight limit.

For an 11mo, I'd strip her down to her diaper and continue to rear-face.

Thanks for the responses!! I honestly didn't know which would be safer! We will do everything we can to avoid riding in the car without the tether anchor until we have it installed, but it's good to know it would be kind of OK to FF if we absolutely needed to.

Laurie

It's a van, so one option would be to put it ffing in the 2nd row and tether to an unused third row seat belt

safeinthecar said:

It's a van, so one option would be to put it ffing in the 2nd row and tether to an unused third row seat belt

Click to expand...

The car is the one without the tt